Home Is Where the Heart Is
by Lioness316
Summary: Briar goes back to the Winding Circle, and to all his old friends,but there's love, hate, and jelousy, and war all waiting for him.This is a Tris/Briar Fic. Oh,and all u'r other fav CoM chars are in it too!CHAP 15 IS UP!IT'S DONE!! PLEASE R/R!
1. Homecoming

Briar Moss stood on the summit of Emelan Mountain, and sighed. But it wasn't a sigh of depression, or a sigh of weariness, it was a sigh of relief. He was heading home. Back to Winding Circle. But with that sigh, came some worry. He knew Lady Sandrilane faToren would be there, as would Trisana Chandler, and Daja Kisubo, his roomates from his days at Disipline Cottage. But even with all the pleasures of having his old friends back, there were still responsibilities, and work day in and day out, but he was ready for all of it...or so he thought.  
  
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"Briar! BRIAR MOSS!!" He heard a familiar voice call. Through the market place, and the sea of heads, he saw one with red curly hair. "Tris!" he yelled, motioning for her to join him over in an alley. When they got there, she wrapped him in an enormous hug, something very un-Tris-like. "I've missed you SO much Briar" she whispered into his ear.   
  
"I've missed you too Tris! Gods...it's been such a long time. Look at you!" he said, hold her at an arms distance. She had grown taller, her hair was longer, and a few curls framed her face. She had gotten leaner too. "You look great!" he said.  
  
"Stop it! You sound like Lark did when I first came back! But anyways, come on! I've got a carriage waiting over there." she said pointing. He nodded and followed her, while she filled him in on what had happened to his other two close friends, Sandry and Daja.   
  
"Daja is one of the most famous metal-crafters! Oh gods Briar, you should see all the people who want to see her. She's awfully busy, but she'll definetely have time to see you! And Niko's the same, as always, as are Rosethorn and Lark. They'll all be so happy to see you!!"   
  
"Tris...even your personality has changed! You're...happier."  
  
At first she frowned, but then she just tweaked his nose, "I'm just happy that you're back Briar."  
  
"Oh, how's Sandry?" he casually said, not trying to sound how he felt.  
  
Tris halted at that. "She's....she's...she misses you too Briar. She'll be happy to see you,"she said, her voice lower, and not as perky as before, "She's beautiful, all fixed up, just as she should be. But her heart's the same."   
  
"Good" said Briar, not noticing the change in his friend's voice. "Well what are we waiting for! Let's go home"  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED... 


	2. By The Workroom

Briar stood outside of Discipline, where everyone else was waiting for him. Tris then started to lead the way up the familiar walkway, and into the cottage while Briar took in the familiar smell of it, the smell of the woven wools, and of plants and concoctions which the two older mages made. It felt wonderful, and it was wonderful. He smiled just for that, but once he turned into the dining room, his smile turned into a dropping jaw.   
  
Her blue eyes sparkled, brought out by her dark blue silk dress. The bodice was tight, and sewed together with beautiful silver trimmings. The bottom half of the dress flowed around her, perfectly, sheer fabric against opaque, and dark against light. Her shoes were silver slippers, and she had her hair done up in the back with silver, and dark and light blue ribbon. Her hair was streaked with blonde highlights, and her mouth was in a broad grin.  
  
"S-s-a" but he didn't have time to get her name out, for all of them, including her, as well as Daja, Lark, and Rosethorn wrapped him in big hugs, while Niko shook his hand. It was more than he expected.   
  
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"She's still the same you know...even if she does look like she shouldn't be touched" Tris whispered to him, after she caught him staring at Sandry, her voice tight, but still warm.   
  
"You told me.." he said, still staring. Tris turned her head back to her plate, and started shoving food in her mouth.   
  
"Gods...he doesn't notice anyone else! It's like she's his damned Shakkan tree! All beautiful and full of magic, i wish he would notice the weeds...." Tris thought to herself, as she smoothed out her hair, a habit from when she was little. Daja caught her actions over the table, and knew her friend well enough to know that something was wrong, and then remembered how Tris had insisted that she be the one who picked up Briar, and escort him back to the cottage, and how just before dinner she had sat right next to him, and Daja had even noticed how she stared enviously at Sandry.  
  
"Briar!" she called from the other end of the table. "You must tell us what you did when you're gone, we all would love to know." she knew it was a boring question to ask, because everyone knew why he was gone, and it was a standard question people asked a traveler who was back from his journeys, but she did it for Tris.   
  
"Daja...I thought you all knew what I did...but If i really have to..." Briar started.  
  
"Come on Daja, you're smarter than that! We all know Briar went to go stregnthen the mage walls over on the coast." Sandry said, as she reached over to place her hand on top of Briar's. "You're not that patient! Even with all your tending for plants all these years, and especially after that mage wall, we can't put you through that!" she said, flashing that all too familiar smile.  
  
Daja, and even Tris had to smile at that, Sandry was no stupid girl, she was smart, and she knew all of their personalities perfectly. And she was right. But still, Daja gave Tris an "I tried!" look, which Tris returned with a tight smile.   
  
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"I thought I'd find you here..." Briar said, as he entered Sandry's old workroom, spools, and spindles placed neatly on the shelves which lined the walls.  
  
She turned to look at him, as she pulled him down into a sitting position next to her. His green eyes sparkled, and his skin shone, with a tan he had collected while working on the coast. His hair was shaggy, but still neat, and his white shirt, and tan breeches hung perfectly on his body. "I want to get to the point..." she started, looking down at her slippers, and then up at him. "They all expect us, to...to be together. Ever since you left, and even before, everyone has been asking 'Are you and Briar together? You know you're of noble blood! And even Lark has been saying how we would go great..." she said, clasping, and unclasping her hands together. "And at first I said, 'No! That could never happen! He's like my very own brother! But Briar...you're not. You're Briar Moss, and I'm Sandry faToren...they're not the same last names! We're not siblings...and even if it may sound like i'm 5 years old right now, I just want to say that I think they are right too."   
  
Briar sat there, speechless. He'd never thought he'd hear this coming out of anyone's mouth, let alone Sandry's! True, he had thought of her as a sister for a while, but he started realizing that whenever he saw her with one of the noble men, he wished that he was in their place. She was right, they weren't brother and sister by blood, so why shouldn't they be together? "Sandry...I feel the same way too." She smiled, and moved her clasped hands around the small of his back, head on his chest. But Briar wasn't about to let her start the kiss, so he lifted up her chin, and moved her lips towards his, gliding his over hers, at first slowly, and then with more vigor. His hands were in her hair, and hers on his neck. They were both so caught up in the moment that they both didn't notice the thud on the door, as Tris slid down it, and landed up sitting on the floor in front of it, head in hands, hunched over, and almost sobbing.  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED... 


	3. Rooftop Problems

Briar walked across the slate roof, looking over at the familiar land before him, when he heard some rustling behind him.   
  
"Tris! I didn't even notice you were there!" He said.  
  
"Well you don't seem to be noticing a lot of things these days, do you Briar? With Sandry taking up all your time...." she said, voice angry, and also sad. It had been a month since Briar had first gotten home, and he and Sandry were as they put it "In Love" and even if she was now on work in Sotat, they still wrote to each other, and Briar would send her magiked messages. Tris thought she was going to throw up.   
  
"Whoa, calm down coppercurls!" He said chuckling, and then his voice faded when she turned around to reveal her distressed face. "I mean, are we that bad?" Tris nodded, and then said, "I never figured you and Sandry for the lovey-dovey type. But I guess we all change." She said, as she ran her fingers through a feather she was holding.   
  
"No...I think we're all still the same in the very middle of us Tris. I think that somehow we still have part of our 10 year old selves in our 18 year old bodies."  
  
"So are you saying that you've loved Sandry since you were 10?" she said, voice straining, and fingers almost breaking the feather in half.   
  
"Tris? Are you ok? I mean I've had love for her, and Daja, and Lark, and Rosethorn...and you, since I first got here. It starts in friendship. But I guess you wouldn't know that since you've never been in love!" he said, getting angrier.  
  
"If that's what your stubborn head wants to think Briar Moss, then fine! But...Buut..." she said, sputtering, and then sobbing. Briar, seeing this was something far more important than what the argument seemed to be about, Tris wasn't usually like this. So he sat down, and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently. "Tris, you can tell me what's wrong. But you know I can't help it if I love Sand-" She slid out of his arms, and stood back up, wiping the tears off her face. "I'll see you later Briar...I have to go meet Niko somewhere..." Briar was still sitting down, and he just nodded, a little confused, and in need of some answers. So he headed to Daja.  
  
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Daja was pounding metal on an anvil when he came in. "BRIAR? IS THAT YOU?" she yelled over the sound of her pounding. "Yes" he said, mindtouching her.   
  
"Ok, just let me finish this, it'll take just a few more seconds" she mind-touched back, then turned around after the promised few seconds. "So what's happened that makes you come here in the middle of the day. It's too hot outside for you to walk this far 'just to talk'". She said, motioning for him to sit next to her.   
  
"Actually, you'd be surprised at the heat that was up in the Emelan Mountains..." But then caught himself, Daja didn't really feel heat. She worked with it, and she molded it, so it didn't hurt her in the same way.  
  
"I knew you'd remember!" she said, laughing.   
  
"You..You heard that? But those were my thoughts!" Briar said, startled.  
  
"You were...projecting them I guess. It's not like I can go into your mind at extract thoughts. But if you project them, then I can hear them. But that's not the point, why did you come here to see me?"  
  
"Daja?! Do i need a REASON to come and talk to one of my best friends?" he said, laughter in his voice.   
"Come on kaq, i KNOW you have a reason." she said, chuckling as well.   
  
"Well...I do actually. It's Tris. She seems...I don't know the word for it, but it's not good. I mean she's getting all emotional with me, and she cried today just after i mentioned Sandry and me..." he said, trying to explain his problem.  
  
"Oh Gods...I ought to hit you over the head with my staff. Are you really that stupid Briar?"  
  
When he didn't say anything, she turned around, and started hammering again. Briar took that as a dismissal.  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED... 


	4. 

Tris was spread out in the middle of her bed, watching the clouds through her window, looking for weather patterns, but she was thinking of something else. Rosethorn had Crane, Daja had Kirel, Lark had Frostpine, and Sandry...Sandry had Briar, and to her, it wasn't fair.   
  
She had never felt the way she did about Briar, until just a couple weeks before he arrived, when Sandry was talking about him to her. She(Tris) was great friends with both of them, in fact, they were like her foster-siblings. She knew Briar had called them (Sandry, Daja, and her) his foster-sisters. So she knew she would probably never be with him romantically anyways. But when she saw the way he looked at Sandry, and when Sandry explained the way she felt about him, she couldn't help but wish it was her in Sandry's place. Sure, she never really did like girly things, and certainly wasn't the romantic type, but this was different. And she couldn't explain it.   
  
"Tris! Are you in there? Open up the door! I have something to tell you!" Daja called from the other side of the wall. Slowly, Tris stood up, and trudged over to the door, flinging it open, to reveal a smiling Daja. "Daja...I really don't have time for this now, can't it wait until later?"  
  
"I should hit you over the head with my staff too! Of course it can't wait, it's important. Come on, come to the dining room, I want to tell everyone together!"   
  
"Daja, I don't want to! Let go of me, I just...not now okay?"   
  
Daja looked hurt, and Tris sighed. Daja usually didn't come rushing in, with a mile long smile on her face trying to herd everyone into the dining room. "Ugh..okay, fine" Tris finally muttered, following Daja out into the hall.   
  
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Lark, Rosethorn, Crane, Briar, Daja, and Tris sat at the table, with Kirel standing at the head of it, nervously wringing his hands.   
  
"I came here to ask all of you, especially you two, " he said motioning to Tris and Briar, "If I, Kirel could have Daja Kisubo's hand in marriage. Now before you all gasp, and take Daja's staff away from her to beat me with, let me explain. I'm asking both of you for her hand, because you are like her family, and I think it would be the most proper to...and well...so now..."  
  
"Kirel stop! We're not going to beat you! I think it's fantastic you and Daja are finally getting married!" Briar said, beaming. "And I bet it's all right with you, isn't it Tris?" he said, turning to face her. It was the first time he'd talked to her since they were on the roof, so she just nodded, and turned around. She was extremely happy for Daja, but at the same time, all the jelousy she was feeling, and trying to avoid came rushing back to her, in an awful, suffocating way.  
  
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	5. 

She was floating, soaring, gliding, and wafting with the wind. She was the wind, and for her it was pure bliss. She had needed to take her mind of all the proposals, and the lovey dovey stuff which now engulfed Discipline, so she had headed for the roof top. The air around her swirled, cool against hot, but suddenly, she felt a tickling feeling on her 'elbows', then on her 'neck', and then on her 'nose' that she had to sneeze, and come out of her trance to see who her "attacker" was. "Stop that!" she screamed, before turning around to see who it was.  
  
"Sorry Coppercurls. Just having a little fun" Briar said, with a grin, and then stuck the piece of straw halfway in his mouth, chewing it. "So Daja and Kirel. I knew those two were meant for each other. Don't you think it's funny how we all came here hating each other, and now we're the people who can say who gets married to who." He said, first kneeling on one knee to balance himself, while he looked down onto the garden, and then he slipped into position next to Tris.   
  
"Ya...it's different. But I guess i just expect it now...we're family, ex-." She started to say, and cut herself off before she made some snide comment about Briar and Sandry.   
  
"Except what?" Brair said, tickling her neck with the straw again.   
  
"Ex-Stop that! Except nothing." she said, playfully slapping his hands away, while he tried to get her.  
  
"Oh coppercurls. I have really missed you, you know that right? Sandry may be my lover.." Tris cringed at that, "But you Tris, you and I have a bond like no other. We're in a way more than foster-siblings Tris.." he said, turning his head to face her, while one of his legs was bent, with his elbow resting on it, his green eyes dancing against the setting sun, the tips of his hair highlighted just right.   
  
"I've missed you too Briar. I guess we are more than...but.." she tried to say, stumbling.   
  
"Shh" Briar said, moving his finger to her lips, to silence her, while flashing the smile that Tris had grown to love, "I know you don't like expressing, or saying what you feel...I won't put you through it, but I know what you want to say." Briar said, pulling his hand away, and slipping it around her back. "You know Daja can read what i FEEL now? Isn't that amazing...I mean I guess we all can in a way, but she basically just took my thoughts and feelings out of my head!" he said.  
  
"Really?" she said, genuinly interested, and also trying to figure out a way to block Daja out from some thoughts she did not want her to hear. "That is interesting...not something i would want her to do to me!"   
  
Briar nodded, turning his head back down, so that he looked directly down at the garden. "Tris...I wanted to talk about the other day."  
  
"What's there to talk about?" she said, getting defensive. But his hold around her waist just grew tighter. "Don't try to get away now!" he said, voice still light, but then he let go a bit. "Fine," he said, still in a good mood. I think I hear Rosethorn calling me, but I'm going to the city tommorow to find a present for Daja and Kirel, you want to come?"  
  
"Oh, that's a great idea. I'd love to!" Tris said, once again shifting moods.   
  
"Good, we'll leave before midday, he said, offering his arm to help her up. She took it, and stood, facing him. But before she could say good-bye, Briar leaned in for what she thought was going to be a peck on the cheek, or even a hug, but what turned into a kiss on the lips. It was intended to be brotherly, and definetely not the way it turned out, or felt for the both of them. But there was no denying the fact that it didn't stay brotherly for very long.   
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
A/N:ok..so i took the "but it didn't stay brotherly for very long" line from Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey...but i thought it fit well!! Don't sue me! 


	6. 

"Oh, this is beautiful!" Rosethorn exclaimed, fingering a circlet with rubies and diamonds embedded into the rich, sparkling gold. "Perfect for Daja..." she whispered. Rosethorn didn't usually get this openly enthusiastic around anyone, except for Briar, Lark, and Crane. So Briar knew that she was probably going to buy the thing, whatever it was. But right now he was confused. Very Very confused.  
  
"Oh, Briar," Rosethorn said, lightly tapping his shoulder, "Why isn't Tris with us? I thought she was coming..."   
  
"I think something came up...she just couldn't make it, " Briar said, while trying to skip over the subject.  
  
"Hmmm...there's something more. I know there is. But i just can't place my finger on it...But you wait young man, I will find it out!" Rosethorn said, tapping his nose, and then swiftly turning around to examine a Dragons Breath Fire Plant which was on the cart next to them.   
  
Briar would've been thouroughly enchanted with that plant, but when he looked at it, he saw the color red. And red reminded him of Tris's mop of curly red hair. Or not a mop...more like a perfectly weaved craft. One that Sandry would make...  
And that made his head positively spin.   
  
Pinching the bridge of his nose between his two fingers, he nudged Rosethorn. "I need to get out somewhere not so crowded. I need to think...Can't we do this some other day?"  
  
"Now I definetely know something is wrong...Briar, you can tell me. You know I would never reveal something you don't want me to. Not to Crane, not to anyone."  
  
"Maybe later...ok Rosethorn? Right now...just isn't right. I need to get things straightened out...ok?"  
  
Rosethorn nodded, and turned away, paying for the circlet, and a clipping of the fire plant.  
  
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Briar sat in the shade of one of the trees in the backyard of Discipline. The summer heat still hit him, not like spears, but more like a fog, just surrounding and penatrating his skin. He sighed, the moisture from his collecting and forming sweat beads around his mouth and nose, which he swiftly wiped off with the sleeve of his shirt, and closing his eyes.  
  
"How did you ever survive the Emelan Mountains? Gods, sweating and panting here, in the shade of a tree!"  
  
Slowly Briar opened his eyes, to fingers positioned to flick his forehead. He slowly pushed them away, to reveal a very amused Daja. "I'm serious" she continued, "How DID you survive?" she said, chuckling.  
  
"Well for one, I wasn't in this mess up thing I'm in now!" he said, but then stopped himself, before saying too much.   
  
"Briar...I was in the garden when you....and Tris...on the roof...new weird mind reading thing... I KNEW i should've hit you on the head with my staff! How could you not have realized! Briar!! You're supposed to be SMART!" She said, flicking him on the forehead.   
  
"How was I supposed to know? Seriously...I mean I had just invited her to go looking for a present for you and Kirel, and before I know it we'-"  
  
"Well for starters, don't you think you should've hugged her, or even just kissed her on the cheek, INSTEAD OF KISSING HER ON THE LIPS! If any one ever said good-bye like that here...." she said almost at the top of her lungs...  
  
"Shh! Quiet! Everyone will hear you! And no, I hadn't thought about that, because it's something that's done VERY OFTEN in the Emelan Mountains."  
  
"Well then either pucker up boy, or change your ways! Don't you think Sandry is going to feel something of this? Like when you get some humongous emotion surge, with LOVE, and she's not the one causing it? Briar, I want to help. I don't want you to get hurt, and i certainly don't want Sandry or Tris hurt." She said, face softening, and showing real concern. "So come on, show me the present you got for me...you know I can't wait long for these kinds of things!"  
  
"Well...I was so caught up in...and...but Rosethorn...and maybe nex-"  
  
He heard Daja mutter "Kaq" under her breath, and then a pound on the head.   
  
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Tris sat in her room, missing dinner, missing Daja and Kirel's good-byes, missing Niko's stories, missing Crane's new plant he was going to give to Rosethorn....And now missing the outing to the city, and probably midday...  
  
She hadn't expected it, not in the least. She was never the girl to get the prince, she always got the frog. Or she was the friend to the prince, but never the one he kissed. So when Briar had first kissed her lips, just barely touching them, but then he'd pulled her down onto the shinglings of the roof, breathing heavily, his hair blocking the sun out of his face, and kissed her. She had almost fainted.   
  
Oh, she had wanted it badly, more than anything. But at the same time, she was betraying Sandry, and allowing Briar to cheat on her. "Shows how awful incest is..." she muttered, and she smoothed her hair again, still feeling the tickling on the back on her neck from when Briar had let the straw run across it, and she still felt the slight tugging of her hair, as he touched it. But she didn't have much time to wallow...  
  
"Tris! Sandry's here! Where are Brair and Rosethorn! Call Daja!" Lark called.  
  
"Tris!" Sandry called..."I have so much to tell you"  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  
  



	7. 

"Tris!" Sandry said, pulling Tris into a tight hug. "It's been-"  
  
"Only 2 weeks...." Tris muttered.  
  
"So? Come on! I'm happy to see you! Where are Briar and Daja?" She said, as she looked around. But then dragged Tris with her to her workroom, where she started spinning, and motioned for Tris to join her. "Gods...how long has it been since we've been able to do this?" she said, letting the silk glide through her hands, onto the spool, and then back around her fingers. Tris just nodded, she had never liked spinning much anyways.   
  
"So Daja and Kirel..." Sandry started.  
  
"Old News." Tris said, voice bland, and monotonous, obviously not wanting to talk. Sandry just nodded, and kept on spinning, she was used to Tris's mood swings. Finally, after what seemed like a million awkward moments of silence later...Tris stood up, letting wool and thread fly everywhere, and left the room. Exasperated. She needed to talk to someone, but the only person she could really talk to was the one she wanted to about. The wind around her swirled...  
  
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"Mmmm" Sandry said, as she buried her head in Briar's chest, wrapping her arms around his waist, rocking slowly. She lifted up her head, after which he usually kissed her. But instead, he just looked away, listlessly stroking her hair. "Briar?" Startled, he pulled his hand away from her hair, quickly, as if he shouldn't be doing it, "Tr-" he started, then looked into Sandry's face. "I mean, Sandry...Sandry! Let's...let's go to the room ok? I need to rest, and I bet you do too..."  
  
"You're acting really weird Briar? Is everything ok?" she asked, hands on hips, smiling. But instead of the joking tone she usually got from him, he just nodded, and trudged over to her room, which he was sharing with her. He peeled off his tunic, and flopped down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying to relax himself, breathing in for 7 counts...and then out...but it didn't work. "Sandry...I...I have to go.." he said, bolting out of bed.   
  
Sandry sat up, just looking at the empty space next to her, and the empty hallway in front of her. But before she could go up, to find Briar, she saw the little circle of thread, which was on her dresser, flare with light. But only two of the lumps did....Briar's and Tris's.  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED... 


	8. The Fight

Briar has instinctively thrown a line of his magic towards Tris, to get her attention, he usually did that when he was in any kind of dilemma, because Tris was always there to help him. But this tim he drew it back so quickly, once he realized he didn't know if he did want to see her, because, she was part of what he wanted solved. But because he drew it back that fast, it backlashed against him sending him thudding against the wall. He thanked the Gods that no-one had heard him, but thought a little too soon, because Tris was suddenly peeking through her door.   
  
"Briar..." she started, and then moved towards him, slowly at first, and then rushing to help him up.  
  
He looked up at her, through his dark brown eyelashes, she could see he was confused and scared. He placed his two arms around her elbows, and whispered, in a very strained tone:  
  
"Don't do this Tris. It was my fault. I can't let this happen God DAMMIT!" he said, almost screaming, the fear emitting from his eyes, and lightning from her surrounding his hands. "I love Sandry, don't you see? It was stupid of me to do what i did, I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN TRIS! PLEASE!" he pleaded, shaking her.   
  
"Is this what I get from opening up to someone?!" she whispered looking into his eyes.  
  
"I know i started it...and Tris, i just, i can't do this, just..." he said trailing off, trembling.   
  
Tris clumsily jerked her arms away from him. "I NEVER DID ANYTHING BRIAR! YOU SAID IT YOURSELF THAT YOU STARTED IT!" She was shaking as much, and if not more, than him, the most embarrased she had ever been in her life, and also the most angry. "Go to Sandry! See if I care!!" she said, sobbing, and standing up to leave.   
  
Briar started to stand up, to go to her, to comfort her, because as much as he appeared to be angry at her, deep inside he wasn't, and all he really wanted to do was wrap her in his arms, and rock her gently until all her tears were gone.  
  
But before he could run after her, or return to his room with Sandry, an explosion sounded outside, louder than anything he had ever heard, and the light made night turn to day for an instant, and the sounds of babies' cries and mothers' pleas filled the air...  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...  



	9. Halo

Kirel didn't have to shake Daja to wake her up, she was already up, and into her boots before he could say anything, or for that matter do anything. "Kirel, you can come, but I have a feeling this is a magical attack...I don't know if you want to see it." Daja said in a matter-of-fact voice. Kirel nodded, magic didn't always rest well with him, but he wanted to do SOMETHING. "I'll keep watch of Discipline, I'm sure everyone over there will go inspecting things." he said, pulling on a shirt, and taking a satchet with him. Daja nodded, "You better go now before they all leave" she said, and left, towards the sounds of the screaming...  
  
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Sandry didn't dare touch the circlet of the thread...she didn't know if she should, for fear of what she was going to find out. But then she saw blue sparks fiercly exploding out of Tris's knot, and knew something must be wrong. "Tris?" she mind called.  
  
"Not now Sandry" Tris said, voice determined, but about to break. Sandry had never seen Tris like this before.  
  
"Tris! Meet me in the kitchen, we can talk." Sandry offered.  
  
"Fat CHANCE!" Tris mind-screamed, but that scream only blended in with the sound of the ones in the background...  
  
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Somehow, Niko, Frostpine, Lark, Rosethorn, and many of the other dedicates, as well as Daja, Briar, Tris, and Sandry, made their way to the Hub, the center of Winding Circle, and the most mage-protected building in the complex. But it seemed as if those barriers were gone, and an awful Yellow-Green light made a perfect halo over the top, and with each strand of mist that was carried away from it, the screams of what seemed like hundreds of people went with it.   
  
Once the elder dedicates saw the Hub, they made the circle over their chest, and muttered a short prayer, for hope and guidance.   
  
"Mila save us" Briar whispered, under his breath, for he knew what that halo meant. Somebody had literally anchored their power, to feed from the shields from the Hub, attached a strand to millions of people, and things, and was slowly using the Hub's, and now his power, to kill them all off, one by one. It was a very, very complicated spell, and how long it took to establish it without anyone noticing, Briar didn't know. But he did know that this type of spell took a mage like him, Tris, Sandry, or Daja, one of the "specialty" mages. Because the thing that helped anchor the stupid spell down, was elements from the earth. And if anyone attempted to touch it, it would either die, or become connected, and then eventually die.   
  
"You've got to be kidding me..." Daja mind-spoke to him.  
  
"Hey! I told you to stop doing that! Stop taking my thoughts!" Briar chided.  
  
"This is not time to quarrell! This is serious...and we need to do something!" Sandry retorted.  
  
"Of course we need to DO SOMETHING! 'Oh yes...I'm looking at an evil force that could blast all of us to pieces in SECONDS, and i'll JUST STAND HERE!' " Daja said, with sarcasm.   
  
"I'm serious though, " Sandry said, voice getting lower, "We need to somehow find out how to prod it without blasting ou-" but her voice cut off, and a lash of pain went through all their chests, making them crash to the ground.   
  
"Tris!" they all called. But no response came.   
  
_______________  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
A/N: ya..i know, not a lot of romance in this chapt. but there will be a lot in the next...or if not the next, definetely upcoming ones. But i need to build up to that...so please be patient!! Thanks.~~ 


	10. The Link

A/N:Before i start w/ the 10th chapt. of this fic, i want to say something. When i said in the first chapter, that Tris was "leaner", which in fact does mean a little bit skinnier, i did in NO way mean to imply that people need to be skinny so other people can fall in love with them. We were doing this excersise in school(in English), where we're supposed to 'show' instead of 'tell', so by saying that she was leaner, i was trying to show that she has been working a lot, and doing a lot of magic, causing her to lose some weight. But either way...I think Briar, and everyone else would love her just the same.   
  
Ok, now on w/ Chapt 10!  
  
________  
  
Briar, Sandry, and Daja were little figures on the horizon from from where Tris stood. The green halo was right above her in the sky, and the light shimmered faintly around the whole hub. That halo was obviously very evil, the screams had confirmed that, but now the winds did. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but she needed to find out. Whatever it was, was totally disrupting the wind patterns, and hurting people. So slowly, she breathed in for seven counts...  
  
"Mila save u-" she heard in her mind, it sounded like Briar, but she quickly blocked out all other sounds from her mind, including his, as well as Daja's and Sandry's mind voices.  
  
"1...2...3...4...5...6...7..." she counted again, then slowly reached part of her 'magical' self out, to touch the halo, to see what was causing the thing. It took her awhile to calm the winds around the hub, so that she could actually get to the green thing, but she did it. Slowly, she inched her way towards it, until the tips of her 'fingers' touched it. But as soon as they had touched, the tendrils of mist attached to her chest, knocking her magical self back into her real self, and her real self to the ground.  
  
________  
  
"Tris!" The three of them screamed, as they tried to shake her, so she would 'wake up'"   
  
"Tris!" Briar mindcalled. "Tris!" he screamed into her mind, out of the four of them, he thought he would have the best chance of getting through, they had been closer than she was to the other two girls...but then he remembered the fight, and how tempremental Tris was, and his shoulders slouched, and he hung his head. "Tris!" He tried, as his one last feeble attempt, "Tris come back! We need your help with this! We need you to help us fight this thing!" But her limp body stayed limp, the good thing was that she wasn't dead. But Briar knew something must be awfully wrong to put down Tris, it took a lot to do that. So slowly, with his last bit of stregnth, his magical self entered her body, and he searched for unknown magical traces, to try to save his friend.  
  
"Forget about the fight.." he thought, and embedded it into her brain.   
  
"No..." came a whisper. Briar jerked up with the recognition of the voice. "Tr-" he stared.  
  
"Not now..." came the reply, before he could finish.  
  
"You know you're too stubborn for your own good!" he said, exasperated, "And if you won't do it for me, at least do it for Winding Circle!"  
  
By that point, he was back to his regular body, and looking down at Tris, who's eyelids were slowly fluttering open. "Fine.." she whispered, so softly, so that only he could hear, "But this isn't for you...it's for here, for my home. But it's plant magic Briar...Oh GOds! Get someone!" He didn't have to ask what was wrong, he felt the pressure against his lungs as well, it was the downside of sharing magic with the four. Over to his right, he saw Sandry clutch her chest, and Kirel hold Daja up. Slowly he stood up, to report his findings to the rest.  
  
_______  
  
A week later, they gathered around a table, set in a conference room. During that week, they hadn't found a way to solve their problem, until Niko finally all called them to the meeting.  
  
"I think I've seen things like this before...it's decimated entire cities and communities before" Niko said, to the other dedicates, as well as the four mages. "It drains the power at the center, and with that, kills many of the inhabitants. I have suspicions about who is doing this...but I think it's too early to say. But it's awfully hard to fight, only a mage of the same kind can fight it...And even then it's hard. That mage has to connect to the actual halo, so it can get to it's center." Niko looked over at Briar, who just nodded in response.  
  
"I heard Tris...a plant mage made it." Briar said, looking each dedicate straight in the eyes.   
  
"You know I could do this, " Rosethorn replied. But it was a futile attempt, and really done just out of politeness. Briar had turned out much more powerful than his mentor, and for once,Rosethorn actually shrank back. They were all scared, Niko had informed them on the consequences of trying to fight this thing, most of the mages who had succesfully battled it, had died in the process. "It either needs to be deposited somewhere, or 'returned' to it's creator. Who is often the hardest person to find." Niko had told them.   
  
"But we need a link" Lark commented, wringing her hands together as she spoke, and looked at Briar. How are you going to link to the thing without turning out like Tris did?" she asked him.   
  
"I think you just answered it..." Sandry told Lark, and the rest. "Through Tris...she touched the thing, she probably has some of it in her, and Briar can probably trace it back to the halo."   
  
Sandry looked over at Briar after she said that, he held her gaze for a few seconds, but returned it to the table.   
  
Sandry knew what she was doing, she was only going to pull them closer together. And after she saw the way he had looked when Tris had gotten blown back, and then their two knots lighting up, she thought she knew what was going on...But gave Briar the benefit of the doubt. But still...this was the love of HER life..."I may not be his..." she thought, "But Briar...I love you..." she had thought to herself, and had whispered it to him at night.   
  
But her attention was soon brought back to the mages at the table. "We need to get Tris to get a bit...stronger. But the longer we wait, the bigger the risk we take." Niko said again, "And there's the matter of where to put the energy after..."   
  
"I don't want to wait!" Briar said, "I can't wait! There are people DYING out there, and i'll die for them, but I won't let this keep on going!"  
  
That had decided them, it may sound petty, but it did. Briar was right, and they knew waiting a couple of days would just end up having another 100 people's death certificates sent to the temple.   
  
"Very Well Briar...It's your power, it's your choice...You may begin when you please."  
  
_______________  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
A/N: Again..not a lot of romance, but i'm getting there!!!!  
  



	11. The Pattern

"I'm ready when you are" Briar called to Tris. She just nodded, defiance in her eyes, showing him that she wanted to do this, but clearly not with him. "Tris...you're going to have to open up your mind to me" he coaxed her. "Or at least send me a thread of your magic." She did the latter. Briar attached his mind to the little part of hers, so he could find the path to the halo, and then took in her lightning bolt of magic.   
  
They were in the same room, with all the other dedicates in there, quietly watching, bodies tense, and breath's held. Briar didn't have time to look around at them, he was concentrating, concentrating on finding the path from Tris's body to the halo. But without her cooperation, and stregnth, he knew it was near impossible. He hated doing this, but he had to, it ruined his pride. "Sandry? Daja?" he called, while trying to hang on to the last piece of Tris's magic that was streched out to him. "Yes?" They both responded.   
  
"I need he-" but before he knew it, he felt his and Tris's minds meld, and their magic's come closer and closer together.  
  
Back in the real world, Sandry held a piece of string around a lap-loom, and she was furiously weaving. Weaving Briar and Tris together, one of the hardest things she had to do, not only physically and magically, but also mentally. She was bringing them closer.   
  
__________  
  
Briar, now feeling like he was in two bodies at once, and with re-newed energy from Sandry, Daja, and some from the closer Tris, began his way through Tris's magic. Traces of a deep green spotted it, and like a branch, ended in her heart, the source of life. Briar knew no other way to describe it but "evil" seeming, and stronger than anything he had ever seen before. Slowly, using energy, in magic form, he worked away the dotted traces in Tris's, his, Sandry's and Daja's magic, putting them into the large branch in the center, for there was no other place. When that was done, he murmured a protection spell around it, so that if things did go wrong, it wouldn't explode all over the place, killing EVERYONE in the room, after it was detached from Tris. And then he started the hardest part.   
  
With magic, vine-like tendrils, he fought the part of the halo attached to Tris. The hardest part was tearing it away, without tearing parts of Tris away. It almost happened too many times, he had heard Tris sob, and then felt them meld together again as Sandry weaved fiercer, and harder than ever. It was one of the most horrifying experiences in his life. He didn't know what he was going to do if he was responsible for the death of all his closest friends.   
  
But finally, after 2 excruciating hours, he had it free, free from Tris, but wild, the magic was about to explode, and it needed to be deposited somewhere. Tris was as worn out as him, because the magic had taken some of her life-force with her, Briar almost panicked. He had to store the magic somewhere, it was getting reckless, and wild, and Niko had said it was more dangerous this way.   
  
"Put it back into me, except not the same way, I can take it with me..." he heard in his mind.   
  
"Tris, no!" he said, after recognizing the voice.   
  
"Briar...I would die for y-these people, don't do this to yourself, you've done enough, now let this evil go." she told him.  
  
But because Briar was still connected to her mind, he knew what she really meant, and it made him lose some control over the magic.   
  
'I would die for you Briar, I would take in all the evil energy, just so you can be happy' her mind was thinking.   
  
She knew he knew, so he replied, "But I won't be happy if you die Tris..." But there was no more time for talk, he was losing his grip on the magic.   
  
"Quick-" She said, stregnth seeming to go back in her, once she noticed that they only had a few minutes, if not seconds until all hell broke loose. She lay out a pattern, "Just follow it." Tris ordered.  
  
Briar took the magic, and let it flow, in and out, lightning bolts and vines guiding it through out, until it came to the end, where Tris helped him seal the weaving.   
  
"What now?" He asked,  
  
"Back to the Hub" she replied. "We need to deposit it back into the hub."  
  
"Are you joking?! You might as well say that you want to stab everyone in here, as well as all of Emelan!" Briar retorted.   
  
"Then I guess you were too caught up in the directing of the magic to see what the pattern was for. It's a transforming pattern, it changes the type of magic to what it originally was, or what it's locked to. All this magic was once from the hub, we just changed it back."  
  
Slowly, putting one of her magical hands on his, Tris guided Briar's shocked body, to the Hub, where slowly, and with precision, he took all the the once bad, and now transformed magic, and poured it back into the hub. After that he had time to be amazed. The transformation spell was one of the hardes he'd ever heard of, let alone dream about doing. He looked over at Tris, now back in their real bodies.  
  
"We actually did that?" He murmured.  
  
She just nodded, staring longingly into his eyes, while all the dedicates and mages swarmed around them, and even while Sandry took Briar up into her arms, embracing and kissing him.  
  
________  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
A/N: I know, it may seem to be over, but it's not yet! stay tuned... 


	12. An Offer

A/N: "Saati" is trader talk for a very close friend, who is like family.  
  
________  
  
  
"Briar...Briar!" Sandry gushed, "You SAVED everyone, you and Tris! I'm so PROUD of you,"she said, hugging him even tighter around the shoulders.  
  
"You helped too Sandry," Briar whispered into her ear, "You made Tris and me...closer, you helped..." he couldn't think about that, he had found out too much while he was sharing a mind with Tris. It confused him as much as it scared him.   
  
Sandry was down on her knees again, picking up the lap loom, which she handed over to Briar. "I want you to keep this, it must be worth millions now, you deserve it." She said, streching out her arm to him. He stared at it, and all he could see, and all that surrounded him were visions that were Tris's, visions he had seen when they were close.  
  
"I don't think I can...just give it to Niko, he'll know what to do with it, or to Rosethorn or someone..." Briar said, voice turning into a mumble before he even finished the sentence.  
  
The amount of love, and need, and hope for him he had sensed in Tris, when they had been one had engulfed him, his mind, his body, all his senses. He had never felt a love, or a need, or a anything that strong before. Not even in himself, at least he thought he hadn't. He turned to look at her now, her hazel eyes filled with longing, longing that probably only he could sense, and he gulped. "I thought you HATED me," Briar mind-said to her.  
  
Tris, shocked that he had caught her staring, jumped, and then turned her head away from him. "I don't HATE you, but I'm still mad at you." she said, looking down on the floor. But Briar knew it was a lie. "You're lying." he said, voice strong, even though he barely had the stregnth in him to make it that strong, "You're lying and you know it Trisana Chandler, if you didn't have.....if you were mad at me" he said, not even looking at her anymore, "we wouldn't have been able to defeat that thing, we would've collapsed. It took more than just pure stregnth to do that spell, and to defeat the halo, so pick how you're going to explain it..."  
  
But she didn't respond, and before he knew it, Daja was tapping him on his shoulder with her staff,   
  
"Good work saati" she said, pulling him into a hug. "I knew you could do it." He had to smile at that...it took a lot to get a comment out of Daja.   
  
"Now come on," she continued, "You have to get some rest," and with that, he was lead off to a resting room, where surprisingly, instantly fell asleep.  
  
________  
  
When Briar woke up he found his bed surrounded with friends, and some people he didn't recognize. Tris was not among them, but Sandry and Daja were. Before any of the older dedicates could say anything, Daja leaned over and whispered, "She's in her own room sleeping, you're not the only one who did magic that instense, and for the record...you've been asleep for about 3 days, everyone, and i mean EVERYONE is here to see you" she said. Briar scowled, not about everyone being there, although he did dread the thought of what might come out of some of their mouths, but the fact that she had known he was thinking about Tris, "I TOLD you not to go into my mind like that!" he mind-said back, because there wasn't even enough time for a real answer, a million questions and requests flew out of the strangers' mouths, and into his ears, giving him a very bad headache.  
  
"You MUST teach us how to do that!! Please, join our magic-community"  
  
"Be Quiet Phidelphya!! Sotat needs him more, Sotat's temples need him! This power is more than anything I've ever seen" another stanger said.  
  
"What did it feel like?" A woman dedicate, with red-brown, and unruly hair asked, chocolate brown eyes dancing.   
  
All Briar could do was try to shut them out, and pinch his fingers over the bridge of his nose, to try to relieve his headache.  
  
"SILENCE!" he heard a low voice said, and suddenly everything stopped. "Good 'ol trusty Niko" Briar thought, as he opened his eyes. Niko then started introducing the other mages, temple dedicates, and the rest of the people who wanted to meet him. But when the last person stepped out of the crowd, Briar gasped, he didn't know the man, but he looked like something out of a myth. His long silver hair was tied back with nothing at all(so so it seemed to a normal eye), his green robes illuminated the room, bringing out his ice green eyes. High cheek bones, and a defined chin gave him a sense of unapproachability, but at the same time, he looked like a very respectable man. But the thing that stood out the most, was the talisman, which hungdown to his stomach, which was made out of what looked like a dark stony material, which was a light, sandy shade. It's leaves, amber with real leaves sealed inside them made it glitter, but at the very center, was an emerald the size of half of Briar's fist.   
  
Briar almost fell out from his sitting position on his bed.   
  
"Dedicate Gabriel, it's an honor to meet you" he whispered, bowing his head down as a sign of respect. Gabriel was the most powerful of all the plant mages anyone had ever heard of, in this lifetime, and in all the past. He was supposedly handpicked by the plant god, or so the tales said, and Briar had hoped throughout his whole training that he might achieve the smallest amount of greatness Gabriel had.   
  
Gabriel nodded, "I'm here to offer you a job as a worker in the main Temple of the Earth, you must decide before the oak leaves fall. We'll be in contact Briar Moss." And with that he was off.  
  
Briar decided then it was acceptible to fall back onto his bed, 'A job at the main Temple of the Earth?' he thought. It was more than he thought he would get from Gabriel. But if he took it, he'd have to move away from Winding Circle, for at least 5, to maybe 20 years. And only 3 weeks? He sighed...as Sandry came up to stand next to his bed, she was the only other person left in the room.   
  
"It's what you've wanted forever," she said, sitting next to him, mixing up a batch of tea, which she gave to him, "It's a wonderful oportunity," she said, after he had finished the cup, "You should take it, but just remember to write" she said, still not looking into his eyes.  
  
"Do you really mean that?" he asked, if Sandry approved it, he knew it would be a good decision, she always made sensible decisions.  
  
"Really." she said, now looking into his eyes, her blue ones shining, she was happy for him. 'Something Tris would never be' he told himself, and for the first time in weeks, he kissed her, he started it, and he wrapped his arms around her. But suddenly he went rigid,   
  
"Don't take the job Briar, " A grave voice said in his mind, "Whatever you do, don't take the job." Tris's voice said, urgent sounding, more than selfish. "Trust me...please, just don't take it."  
  
_____  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...   
  
  
  



	13. A Warning and a Possible Solutioin

Tris threw her messages at Briar frantically, trying to tell him not to take the job.   
  
"You're supposed to be this all great mage now! It's right in front of your eyes, literally! He's just taking you magic!" She thought to herself, and tried to force it into Briar's mind, but he had blocked her out. "Probably with Sandry" she thought grimly, still trying to warn him. Unlike the other 3 mages, she was able to 'see' magic more than any of them, and while she hadn't seen it with her eyes, she was close enough to Briar mind-wise, that she sense another power tugging his out, and had thought to herself, "As if we havn't seen enough of this already!" and had groaned.   
  
She HAD to do something...he was right before, she couldnt' have possibly helped him if she was that angry. And she knew what had fueled her, it was that love and desire she had for him. Sure, she had been mad for him, but right now all she feared was for his life, she couldn't just let him go off expecting a dream, but walk into his worst nightmare. It killed her to think so, so she decided to do something about it, she HAD to warn him. Slowly, she lifted her weary body out of her bed, "You better thank me for this later Briar" she muttered.   
  
________  
  
Briar was trying to block out all sounds from his head, to prevent a headache, when suddenly a gust of wind blew his door open, and there between the frame of the door stood a very pale Tris.   
  
"TRIS!!" he yelped, "Why didn't you KNOCK?".   
  
"Why didn't you answer my mind-calls Briar" she said, voice bold, and as loud as she could make it. the healer who was seeing to Briar seeing that she should leave, made a quick exit, while Tris cornered Briar. "Briar, i may have been mad at you, but i know when you're in danger, i know what you nee-"  
  
"Don't even try to say you know what i need!" he said, voice growing louder by the second.  
  
"Oh ya? Your all great-and wonderful mage Gabriel is trying to kill you Briar! Is that what you need? Is it? He just wants your power, he doesn't want YOU, he doesn't NEED you Briar, he was hand-picked by the GODS, but for the life of me i don't know WHY they picked him, if he ended up doing things this evil! Briar, i'm just trying to HELP!" Startled by her own words, and their harshness, she stepped back a few feet, so that Briar could walk past her and sit on the bed. He buried his head in his hands, and shook it slowly, side to side.  
  
"I'm..I'm..sorry" Tris said, mumbling.  
  
"No...You're right. Damn it! Why didn't i see it sooner?!" he said, while pounding his fist on the bed. On instinct, by just being his friend over the years, and forgetting what had just happened, Tris rushed to his side, putting an arm around him, and sighed.   
  
"How did we get like this? How did we get in this mess?" she asked, not really to him, but to no one in particular. But he answered it anyways.   
  
"I think all things happen for a reason..." he said, while turning his head to look at his Shakkan Tree, which was now on a shelf above his bed. "I talked to Sandry tonight"  
  
"Surprise, Surprise!" Tris snorted.   
  
"No...Tris, we're moving on. As much as I love her, of course in a sisterly way now, I don't think she's right for me. I think...I think I need...well actually..." he said smiling wickedly, "Since you think you know what I need, try figuring this one out."   
  
Tris didn't even look at him, she just started talking. "I think you need someone who can control you, who can watch out for that little bit of thief left in you, who can appreciate the way you are, who understands more than anything how you feel. You need someone who can comfort you, someone who can go on adventures with you, someone who would love to cook with you, someone who os willing to stay up half the night to cut up aloe leaves for one of your healing potions. What you NEED Briar Moss, is some one like M-"  
  
"Shhh"  
  
__________  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  



	14. The Wedding

Tris woke up startled. The dream had felt way too real, the way she had admitted her feelings, the dream of hers that Briar had left Sandry, and picked her, the way Gabriel was evil, the way he was killing Briar. She rubbed her eyes, and shook her head, red curls bouncing around her pale face. It had been all too real...(A/.N:That whole last chapter was a dream Tris had)  
  
But she didn't have time to dwell on that...even thought she would later, she had to get dressed for Daja's wedding. It was that day, and she was supposed to be a bridesmaid.   
  
"Good! Finally...you're up!" Daja's voice rang in her mind.  
  
"Yes..although I had the weirdest dream. But anyways, are you nervous?"  
  
"No!" Daja said, and Tris grinned, just imagining the scowl on her friends face, and then the look on it after she realized that she WAS. "Well, maybe a little..." Daja continued...  
  
"Well, it's normal for a wedding day, isn't it?" Tris said, while pulling the blue dress over her underclothes.   
  
"It better be!" Daja exclaimed, "But I have to go...I'll see you there"  
  
"Gods Guide you" Tris whispered.  
  
"Let them guide you too..."  
  
_______________  
  
Fire plants lined the pews, which led up to an arch, also containing the deep red and orange plant bursting from it's curls of metal. It was perfect for Daja and Kirel, who both worked with both fire and metal.   
  
Tris stood next to Daja, as she recited her vows, with Sandry and Briar at her side. Frostpine had given Daja away, and right now they were at the last part of the ceremony. But something at the corner of Tris's eye took her attention away from the bride, over to Briar, a thin sliver of silver was going towards him, claws and fire at the tips, ready to suck the life out of him. Tris almost screamed, it was her dream, only worse, because she knew what was to happen, but couldn't help it. And just like in her dream, at the other end of the silver fire, was the emerald in Gabriel's amulet, and Gabriel, was sitting in the front row pew, steadily keeping an eye on Briar.   
  
Tris couldn't stay in one place, she couldn't, she couldn't let one of her best-friends die right in front of her eyes, so quickly, she ran, and threw her physical self upon the mage called Gabriel, ripped the amulet off his neck, and sent winds swirling around them, which dislocated the path of the silver fire. She didn't even know what people were thinking, what they were doing around her, all she could see was the amulet she held, and the magic swirling inside of the emerald, and then a face, that beautiful, tan, wonderful face. Briar's face.   
  
"No!" she said, frantically trying to do something, her original plan was to just destroy the emerald, but now that she saw Briar in it, she didn't dare. She now had to take the actual mage down. Rising, amulet still in her hand, she turned to face Gabriel, and the swirling winds behind him.  
  
"You're winds are simply nothing against what I have. So give me that back to me!" he said, motioning to the amulet in her hand, "and I'll spare you"  
  
"NEVER!" Tris shouted out in defiance, "you NEVER hurt one of my friends, NEVER!" She said, throwing her winds at him at full speed, nearly knocking him to the ground. Nearly...  
  
"Tris!" A voice said, coming from the amulet. "Tris...destroy this, destroy it, It hasn't touched me yet...Remember? He's just trying to trick you!"  
  
"I can't take the chanc-"  
  
"Destroy it Tris!"  
  
She had to listen to him, he sounded so determined, he sounded like he meant it, she had to destroy it, it was now or never, Gabriel was approaching her slowly, but surely, almost at her neck with vines.   
  
Quickly, she drew a lightning bolt from her fingers, held the amulet as far from her face as possible, and shot at it, until it shattered, and the winds around her died, and all that was left was the limp body of Gabriel in front of her.  
  
She stood there, with what seemed like a million people around her, staring, and gaping. The only person not doing that was Daja, who stood, with the biggest smile on her face, and said, in only a voice Daja could have, "This has to be the BEST wedding EVER!"  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED...(things between Briar and Tris need to be resovled still...)  



	15. Home Is Where The Heart Is

The wedding was eventually finished, with Daja even more ecstatic than she was before, and Gabriel had been dragged away. Dragged away and dead...which meant millions of things, most of which Tris didn't want to know about, except for one. It meant that there was an opening to fill at the main Temple of the earth, and everyone knew Briar was one of the best people to fill it. So did Tris...  
  
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The reception was set up just as beautiful as the wedding, with even more metal and fire plants lining the trellises which surrounded the garden it was being held in. A dance was just about to be started, so Tris left, she didn't feel like talking about how beatiful everything was for the 15th million time, so she left, to seek refuge in the back of a bush somewhere.   
  
She finally came upon a wall covered in vines, most of them looking brown...but in the shadows enough that no-one would be able to see her. So when she sat down, and someone said "hi", she nearly jumped up.   
  
"Briar! You could have at LEAST said something before I sat down..." she said, practically screaming at him.   
  
"You must be pretty pre-occupied if you didn't notice me...I was right here working magic on this dying vine! I thought you SEE magic..." He said in a teasing tone.  
  
She made a face at him, and smoothed her skirts out, what she DIDN'T want to do right now was talk, she wanted to be alone, so she started to get up, but a hand around her wrist quickly pulled her back down.   
  
"I need to talk to you Tris, it's something that's been bothering me for weeks, and I need to get it straightened out."  
  
She looked at him from the side of her eyes, and scooted farther away from him. She knew this was going to come sooner or later, but she had always hoped later rather than sooner.   
  
"I know it's an awful thing to do...and I didn't do it on purpose, but Tris, I know what you...well, and me...and what you feel..about.."  
  
"About you? Is THAT what you want to ask Briar? What I FEEL about you?" she said, spitting the words at him like they were fire.   
  
"Well...I know how you feel, I just want an explanation..."  
  
"Why? You love Sa-"  
  
"Tris, what did you do for me when I was battling the halo of green light? What did you just do for me today? You saved my life Tris. You're always saving me, you're like...you're more than a sister, you mean so much to me. I don't think I could live without you. Whenever I need someone to talk to, or have save me...you're always there. And whenever I have good news, you are the first one I want to tell it to. Maybe it's because I was too naive before, or was just stupid...but Tris, we're meant to be. Don't argue with it. I knew it from the moment you opened up your mind to me. We can help each other, we can lean on each other, we can be together. It can work! Tris, I didn't know it before, but I do now, I love you, nothing can change that. Not Sandry, not anyone. Sandry is a strong woman, very strong, and as much as I loved her, and still love her like a sister, it'll never be like us. I can take care of you, and you can take care of me, even until we become old mages just sitting at the top of the hub mantaining the flow of energy! Tris...I just know this, it's like intuition or something...We know each othr so well...it's like it was written in the stars..."  
  
His grip was long gone from her wrist, and his hands were in a posistion of pleading, as if he wanted her love back so badly. She didn't know what to do...so she blurted out, without thinking:  
  
"Are you being annoying, or just plain mean Briar?" She said, stepping back a few inches, she hated teasing and false commitments...So if he was joking...  
  
But the look of utter dismay across his face told her he wasn't.  
  
"No! Tris..."  
  
"I believe you Briar" she said softly, looking into his emerald green eyes.   
  
The smile on his face was priceless, as was the hug he wrapped her in, and kiss he planted on her lips.   
  
_____________________  
  
Briar had just been gone for 2 hours, and already the house seemed way too empty. Tris sighed, and continued to play with Little Bear to pass the time, when suddenly, something wrapped around her ankle, pulling her gently to the outside of the house. Her first instinct was to rip the thing around her leg off, with a wind funnel of some sort, but something about it seemed so right...  
  
When she looked down to see what it was on her leg, she saw it was a vine...coiled ever so gently around her ankle. The next thing she saw was Briar's face, looking down at her and smiling. He reached down to help her up,  
  
"I thought you were taking the job as the head of the Earth Temple! Briar! That's a wonderful opportunity for you! Get back there!" she babbled, while he held her in a long hug.   
  
"Tris..I realized something on the way over there. It was that Home.." he said, but then pulled back, with his hands still holding her elbows, so that he could look at her straight in the eyes. "Home is Where The Heart Is".  
  
_______________________  
  
THE END!!!!!!!!  
  
A/N: I hope you liked it! I LOVED writing this fic! I hope you enjoyed reading it! But now it's done...la la la la   
  
:)  
  



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